Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Pays Dividends

From the USDA:

Posted by Kelly Flynn, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, on January 27, 2015 at 2:00 PM

The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program helps vets repay qualified student loans for service as food animal veterinarians in selected areas of the country. (iStock image)

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

A solid education is crucial to those seeking careers in animal science. However, many student loans can be burdensome. But a student loan payment the size of a mortgage couldn’t stop someone who has wanted to be a veterinarian since they learned to talk. Dr. Annie Bowes is one of those people.

After acquiring the knowledge to begin her dream career, Dr. Bowes was left with overwhelming debt.  Luckily for this Idaho-based veterinarian, she wasn’t left alone to repay it. In 2011, she received assistance through the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) a program funded by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

Through VMLRP, NIFA may repay up to $25,000 each year of student loan debt to eligible veterinarians.  In return, qualified veterinarians must agree to provide food animal medical care for three years in certain high-priority veterinary shortage situations.  VMLRP has helped 245 veterinarians since the program’s inception in 2010.

“I am thankful for this assistance,” Bowes said. “It allowed me to establish myself in a rural area where it’s difficult to be successful. I am now able to treat animals at six to eight different farms per day and have more than 600 repeat clients.”

Veterinarians are critical to America’s food safety, food security, and to the health and well-being of both animals and humans. Studies indicate there are significant shortages of food animal veterinarians in certain areas of the country. A leading cause for the scarcity in this profession is the heavy price tag that four years of professional veterinary medical training carries, which leaves current graduates of veterinary colleges with an average debt of $162,000.

Bowes owns Aspen Veterinary Service, a mobile service treating large animals, as well as an Emergency Clinic with a staff of 15 and more than 10,000 repeat customers.

Dr. Tim VanDerPloeg is another veterinarian using USDA’s assistance to expand rural veterinary services. VanDerPloeg will open Veterinary Center of Somerset, in Kentucky, soon. Pulaski County, where the clinic will be located, is the third largest cattle county in the state of Kentucky.  The clinic will have a 2,300-square-foot large animal facility in addition to the 3,400-square-foot small animal facility.

“Although recipients of the loan repayment assistance are only required to commit to three years of veterinary service in a designated shortage area, veterinarians like Bowes and VanDerPloeg suggest that the impacts from this funding and connections to their service areas go well beyond three years,” said Gary Sherman, VMLRP national program leader with NIFA.

Through federal funding and leadership for research, education, and extension programs, NIFA focuses on investing in science and solving critical issues impacting people’s daily lives and the nation’s future. For more information, visit www.nifa.usda.gov.

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USDA Foods Hatches New Chicken Product for Schools

From USDA:

Posted by Lindsay Walle, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Food Distribution Division, on January 21, 2015 at 10:00 AM

USDA’s new unseasoned chicken strip provides school chefs with versatile and healthy options.

School lunches have evolved since many of our childhood days to keep pace with new dietary guidelines and school meal patterns, but one food has been an enduring component: chicken.  The popular protein graces the center of the plate in a variety of forms and flavors, and the new USDA Foods unseasoned chicken strip provides school nutrition professionals with a versatile and healthy option to add to their recipes.  USDA develops new products for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) based on feedback from states and school districts.  Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how chicken flies the coop from farms to a pilot program to cafeterias across the country.

Did you know that on any given day, USDA Foods comprise 15 to 20 percent of the value of food served on the lunch line, or that the School Year 2015 Foods Available List contains more than 200 options?  For more than 70 years, USDA has provided states with 100 percent American grown food for school lunches to support the dual mission of strengthening our nutrition safety net and supporting American agriculture.  The unseasoned, non-breaded chicken strip is just the latest contribution to a long history of providing nutritious foods for school meals.

The idea for the new product hatched when USDA staff heard from many states and school districts interested in a more versatile, lower sodium chicken option for their meal programs.  USDA Foods already offered the popular fajita chicken strips with seasoning, but schools expressed interest in a chicken strip without seasoning so school chefs could adapt it for multiple recipes.  The new product is perfect in salads, wraps, burritos, and stir fries, among other dishes.  While the lower sodium content and the easy-to-use “strips” assist schools in meeting new meal pattern requirements.

USDA asked states to volunteer for a pilot program to test out the new chicken strip.  Nine states representing all seven Food and Nutrition Service regions were selected to order the product and try it out during the fall of 2014.  USDA staff then surveyed participants to get their feedback on the chicken strip’s taste, texture, and ease of use in the kitchen.  Their input was overwhelmingly positive, and with a few tweaks, all states are able to order the product for schools to serve in spring 2015.

Are you a school nutrition or food service professional with ideas for new USDA Foods for the NSLP?  If so, USDA would love to hear from you!  You can send your comments to USDAFoods@fns.usda.gov.

To learn more about FNS nutrition assistance efforts, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/usdanutrition.

Surveys Help with Land Rental Negotiation

From USDA:

Posted by Shiela Corley, Environmental and Economics Survey Section Head, National Agricultural Statistics Service, on December 9, 2014 at 11:00 AM

Shiela Corley is a statistician now, but her farming roots are deep. Corley's family has been farming for generations now and even today, her parents run a farm in her native Kentucky. Photo Credit: Shiela Corley

This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.

Farmland is one of the biggest assets in U.S. agriculture.  According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, American farmers own more than half of all U.S. farmland—however, more than 350 million acres are rented or leased.  This means that hundreds of thousands of farmers are affected by rising farmland values and have to negotiate their land rental agreements regularly.

That’s where data comes in. Every year, we reach out to thousands of farmers across the nation to determine accurate estimates for farmland values. After all, to negotiate a fair deal, it helps to know the actual value of the land you already rent or hope to rent in the future. That’s also how we at USDA and other key policymakers know that U.S. farmland values have been increasing pretty steadily over the past decade.

Farmland value is only a piece of the puzzle, however.

You still need to know who you are negotiating with. To do that, we are adding a whole new tool to our toolbox.

At the end of this month, we’ll mail out the Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land survey (TOTAL). This survey will be like a landowner version of the Census of Agriculture, in that it will cover land ownership income, debt, asset, demographic and other landlord characteristics, as well as additional information on those renting the land.

When we publish the results of this survey next August, it’ll give a much-needed negotiation tool to farmers and ranchers across the United States who rent or lease the land they operate. As someone who grew up on farm in Kentucky, this data is important to our family as we make decision on rental agreements and the future of our family farm. But the uses won’t stop there. This will also be an important tool for landowners themselves, as well as a baseline for many solid loan and grant policies. But in the meantime, look out for this survey coming soon to a mailbox near you.

Let your voice be heard and respond to the Tenure, Ownership, and Transition of Agricultural Land survey.

Kentucky Couple Says Thank You Berry Much

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Tanya Brown, Writer/Editor, Farm Service Agency, on April 8, 2014 at 5:00 PM

Jeff and Kim Essig gave their blueberry farm a boost with a microloan to help purchase equipment that will further expand their operation.

This post is part of a Microloan Success feature series on the USDA blog.  Check back every Tuesday and Thursday as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s Farm Service Agency.

USDA’s Microloan program allows beginning, small and mid-sized farmers to access up to $35,000 in loans using a simplified application process, and up to seven years to repay. Through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) USDA is focused on increasing opportunities for farmers and ranchers and has made several modifications to farm loan programs, including making Microloans to beginning farmers and veterans exempt from direct loan term limits. Producers have more flexible access to credit for initial start-up expenses, family living expenses, minor farm improvements and hoop houses to extend the growing season.

Kentucky couple Kim and Jeff Essig, owners of Middlebridge Blueberry Farm, know about the benefits of the Microloan program first-hand. Kim shares their story:

I married a man who was already in love — with Kentucky.  Although we were both born and raised in Orange County, Calif., he grew up visiting his grandpa Martin’s farm in Oakland, Ky. during summer breaks.

So it was no surprise that six months after our 1992 wedding, we packed up our things and blazed the trail from Southern California to Smiths Grove, Ky., to live on the land.

The first several years we had limited land and dabbled in growing food for ourselves and trading produce with neighbors. In 2006, we were able to purchase a few acres in Bowling Green, Ky.  It was then we started thinking large scale.

We chose blueberries as our main crop.  Between 2010 and 2011 we installed an acre of blueberries and also started beekeeping. By 2013, we added blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. As our berries grew, the customers came as did the idea of branching out into blueberry plant propagation for selling, expanding our bees and maximizing what we could do with our little piece of earth.

One day I saw an announcement for the Kentucky Farm Service Agency (FSA) Microloan program.  I contacted the FSA office for an application. The application process informative, organized, helpful and painless. And Farm Loan Officer Tracy Bailey called and met with us right away.

Looking back over these past two years, we find ourselves very grateful to God for the opportunity to expand our farm and take hold of opportunities that we most likely would have had to pass up if not for the FSA’s Microloan program.

What we found most helpful were the people behind the program. Tracy Bailey, as well as others in the office, really made the process friendly and smooth. The interest rate and payment terms have been key in helping us to grow into our farm vision.

Kim and Jeff Essig

USDA is proud to see the progress that farmers and ranchers are making in their daily operations with the help of the Microloan program. To date, USDA has issued more than 4,900 Microloans totaling $97 million. The microloan program is part of USDA’s StrikeForce for Rural Growth and Opportunity Initiative, our commitment to growing economies, increasing investments and creating opportunities in poverty-stricken rural Kentucky and 19 other states.

The Essig family started with blueberries and later expanded to include blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.